Crookedstar's Promise/Chapter 10
Chapter description :Crookedkit is training with Mapleshade, and she keeps snapping at him telling him to keep his paws on the ground. She then noses his hindquarters until his paws were firmly planted, then lets him try again. Crookedkit concentrates hard, he rears up and slashes at a stick Mapleshade had stuck in the soil. He finds that with both paws steady, his blow is fiercer and stronger, and the stick tumbles on the third hit. Mapleshade praises him, telling him it was much better, and to try the move on her. Crookedkit blinks at her, asking what would happen if he would hurt her. Mapleshade snorts in response, saying that he can try. She faces Crookedkit, her thick pelt like a lion's mane. Crookedkit imagines that he was facing a LionClan warrior, and thinks that only the bravest survive. As his mind whirls with excitement, he rears up, but Mapleshade had disappeared. He suddenly feels fur on his belly and a weight pushes him up. He gets tossed in the air, and tries to land on his paws, but the ground comes too quickly and he lands heavily on his side. Winded, he struggles to his paws. Mapleshade is sitting a tail-length away and points out that a warrior doesn't daydream. Crookedkit asks how she knew, she responds that he had lost his focus before he reared and that she could see it in his eyes. She continues, saying that he should fight the battle he's in, not the one he might. Crookedkit blinks and asks if he could try again. :Pain grips the young tom's shoulders, and he can still feel Mapleshade's claws as he opens his eyes. Dawn light filters into the nursery roof. Fallowtail is snoring, Crookedkit had at first resented her arrival, the warrior is now a queen that is heavy with kits, but after a night of listening to her gentle snoring, watching her wide belly rise and fall, and her warmth fill the den, Crookedkit was happy to share. He longed to ask her what she was doing on the moorland before, but if it was a secret mission for Hailstar, then he wouldn't dare. He knows it was warrior business, and he was still painfully aware that he still was a kit. Every day he wakes up, hoping Hailstar would make him an apprentice, but he knows he still has to prove his loyalty, but at least RiverClan wasn't treating him like a fledgling anymore. He cleans the elders nest, helps patch up the warriors den to get it ready for leaf-bare, and Piketooth had taught him to catch minnows among the reeds. It took far more skill then he had thought, and he realizes his paws would have to be as fast as lightning to grasp them. He eats with his Clanmates, maybe not as neat as some cats due to his jaw, but neater then when he had left. :While Crookedkit is getting his jaw checked by Brambleberry, she comments that Hailstar should make him a 'paw' soon, and that he's too big for the nursery at this point. Her prediction is close to true after Fallowtail kitted Graykit and Willowkit. Crookedkit added reeds to her nest, making it big enough for the two kits, and cleared away the training wall to make room for a bigger nest for himself. He wonders why the kits' father never comes to visit, or why Fallowtail never mentions him. :Snow comes early, when Graykit and Willowkit are only two moons old. Willowkit begs her mother to let them go out and play, Fallowtail looks at Crookedkit and begs him to take them outside, so they don't mess up the nest. Graykit objects, saying they were just trying to collect old moss for her. Fallowtail sniffs, asking if that's why they jump around every time she tugs a piece of moss out. Fallowtail asks Crookedkit to take them outside to play in the newly fallen snow. Crookedkit purrs, remembering what Mist, Soot, Magpie, and Piper, farm cat kits, were like when he lived with them. :Once outside, Crookedkit gives Graykit and Willowkit a badger ride. Willowkit begins to ask about why Crookedkit isn't a apprentice yet, while Oakpaw is. Crookedkit tells her it's because he broke his jaw. :The kits go over to a reed bed, and Graykit and Willowkit begin to play. Crookedkit soon notices a heron flying overhead, watching Graykit and Willowkit. He stiffens and calmly tells the kits to come with his back to the nursery. The younger kits question him, and the heron dives down for the kits. Crookedkit quickly shoves the kits underneath him and shields them with his body. Crookedkit thinks he is going to die. Three cats quickly bring down the heron though, and Crookedkit is rewarded for saving the kits by receiving his apprentice name, Crookedpaw. Characters Major }} Minor *Fallowtail *Brambleberry *Graykit *Willowkit }} Mentioned *Piketooth *Mist *Soot *Magpie *Piper *Oakpaw }} Notes and references Category:Crookedstar's Promise Category:Chapter subpages Category:Super Edition arc